Chapter 36. To Paradise (2) (2/2)

“I told you, stop introducing yourself. You know she hasn't done that and that's why you're being so bitchy about it~~, no?”

'What is he talking about this time?'

Yi Seol-Ah listened to this exchange while feeling anxious, before finally figuring it out. Her frown became even deeper as a result.

“Someone has to shake her ass off the whole day long just to survive, yet here's someone else who doesn't have to~~.”

When Hyun Sangmin mocked her in a teasing tone of a voice….

“Shut. Up.”

Her voice thickly laden with murderous intention leaked out of her mouth. Too bad, Hyun Sangmin wasn't going to stop just because of that.

“I'm sure you were a lot happier when this girl and her brother, as well as Yun Seora, were struggling to survive, right? You probably spied on them every day and consoled yourself, didn't you? While feeling a sense of pathetic superiority over them, thinking that at least you're better off than they were.”

“Y, you son of a bitch! When did I ever do that? Are you mentally ill?”

“You probably were hoping too, right? Like, waiting for the day these three would fall to the rock bottom just like you. It was you who gave those three the idea to do that, wasn't it?”

It was then, the dumbfounded Yi Seol-Ah's complexion darkened even further.

[Yes. Seriously now…. Don't know who hit her, but that person sure fucked her up.]

….Could it have been?

Yi Seol-Ah clenched her fists tightly without realizing it and stared at the venomously-glaring Oh Minyoung.

“But, what will you do now? One day you run into them, and lo and behold, they are all living happily~ ever after! They are eating nice food, they are training so diligently, and even kitted out in such a great set of equipment, to boot! So, how can a bundle of inferiority complex such as yourself not feel the pangs of vicious jealousy stabbing at your heart?”

“I said, shut your goddamn mouth, you son of a bitch!!!”

Oh Minyoung screamed out that sounded almost like a plea. Her bloodshot eyes opened wide as if her eyelids were being torn open by her anguish.

“Just whose fault was it?!”

“Huh?”

“You, you made me like this!! Why did you only help them out? Why didn't you do the same for me?! I also struggled!! I, I too desperately fought and scratched and clawed my way to here!!”

She began babbling out almost incoherently now. Hearing this, Hyun Sangmin snorted derisively.

“You should take a really good look at yourself first. Who would want to help you when you're this bitchy?”

“What?! When did I ever wrong you?!”

“Your wrongs? There are quite a few, actually.”

“Y, you…?!”

Oh Minyoung spun around angrily towards the direction of the new voice, only to flinch rather grandly after seeing who it was – a woman wearing a white robe, her arms crossed against her chest, with a disdainful smirk etched on her lips.

“I helped you to get to the second floor, only for you to fall for that bastard Kang Seok's schemes.”

The identity of the woman who swept her bob-cut hair back was none other than Shin Sang-Ah.

“Maybe the story might have been different if you tried to press the door release button like Sungjin did. So, just who was the one that abandoned me behind to rot in the darkened corridor as if you couldn't care any less? Mm?”

After hearing her voice thickly laden with criticism and sarcasm, all Oh Minyoung could do was to move her lips up and down without making a sound.

“And that wasn't all, right? Remember what happened on the fourth floor?”

“T, that was….”

“Oh, and let's not forget, it wasn't as if you gave away that Revival medicine for free like Miss Yun Seora.”

Shin Sang-Ah spat on the floor in an exaggerated manner and began grinning again.

“You've done nothing so far, yet you want us to help you?”

“You…. You….!”

Surrounded from all sides and verbally assaulted without a chance to say something, Oh Minyoung suddenly broke down and began sobbing. She crumpled to the floor and wailed out in pure sorrow.

However, Shin Sang-Ah coldly glared on while not caring whether the woman cried or not. She did tear her stare away when shadows loomed near, though; the three men by the lounge finally came closer after noticing that things were not moving as they expected them to.

“Why don't you guys stop there?”

A guy with a huge physique in the middle raised his voice and intervened.

“From what I heard, this whole thing amounts to nothing much at all, anyway. So, is there a need to raise such a fuss?”

“Sure, it's nothing much. I just showed up here 'cuz a mutt was making too much noise, that's all. Since the owner showed up now, hopefully it'll get more peaceful around here.”

Hyun Sangmin retorted sarcastically, causing the big guy's expression to crumple in anger.

“I know who you are. You better watch your mouth.”

“Like owner, like dog, huh. What’s my mouth got to do with any of you fucks?”

“You have a death wish?”

“What, you wanna have a go? You’re confident?”

Hyun Sangmin lightly tapped the crossbow slung on his back. Meanwhile, the big guy took a slow but contemplative look around his surroundings. There were not only Hyun Sangmin's team, but Shin Sang-Ah's team to worry about, too. The man realized he was at a numerical disadvantage.

“….You, I’ll remember you.”

“Ha, why don't you also say 'better watch your back' while you're at it?”

“Don't you dare to think that every Bronze Mark is equal. We'll see the day we enter Paradise.”

“Aigoo~ I'm so scared~.”

Hyun Sangmin shuddered and shrunk back, causing Shin Sang-Ah to break out in a fit of giggles. The big man quietly glared at them both for a long while before taking Oh Minyoung away and disappearing from the view.

At last, some peace and quiet had come and allowed Yi Seol-Ah to release her tightly-held breath.

“Haaaaa….”

This whole event was truly, completely, utterly outside her scope of expectations – she would've never guessed that Oh Minyoung harbored such an ill will. She thought that a raging storm blew by just now or some such.

A short silence flew by before Hyun Sangmin lightly tapped Yi Seol-Ah’s drooping shoulders.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Ah, y, yes!”

Yi Seol-Ah nodded her head urgently.

“A good thing that I came around looking for you. I was going like, Just maybe, but whew, what a relief. Anyways, you gotta be careful, okay? Those three, they are bad people.”

“I…. Thank you. Really.”

She bowed her waist deeply to express her gratitude. Hyun Sangmin simply waved his hand around.

“No need for that. After all, Seol asked me for this favor.”

“Orabeo-nim did?”

“Yup. He told me that Oh Minyoung chick seemed a bit suspicious, and so, he asked me if I minded letting you and your brother tag along for a while. I said, sure, why not.”

“Really? He asked me to look after Miss Yun Seora, though,” said Shin Sang-Ah, as she swept her gaze around the first floor. Hyun Sangmin nodded his head as if he knew about it already.

“Well, in any case. You planning to take a short break? If not, why not try a Slightly Hard mission with me and my team later on? Along with your brother, of course.”

“C, can we really?”

Yi Seol-Ah's face brightened in an instant. If she could enter Hyun Sangmin's team, she wouldn't have to worry about another incident like this happening again.

“Don't worry about it. I've already got the consent from my teammates. Besides, do I look like someone who'll do things for free?”

“Oh…. it wasn't like that?”

“But, of course.”

Hyun Sangmin nodded his head as if to imply there was no need to even ask such an obvious question.

“For doing this favor….”

He pulled out the packet of cigarette while grinning widely.

“Seol promised to help us with a Hard mission!”

*

The end of the deadline for the Neutral Zone that initially seemed so distant had arrived before long.

The greatest achievement Seol accomplished during that time was to sweep away every single 'Very Hard' mission with his team.

They might have struggled greatly when attempting the most difficult mission for the first time, but after making adequate preparations, they were able to clear the same mission again in a comparatively safer manner.

It wasn't as if they didn't encounter any close calls, but still, none of them were as serious as Leorda Salvatore receiving a mortal injury.

And so, with them performing that mission successfully for the tenth time, the noticeboard had become completely barren of all the mission parchments.

“Finally. It's over.”

Tong Chai took off his turban and tossed it to the ground, looking as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

“There is still one more mission left, though….”

Odelette Delphine stared at the very last mission parchment stuck on the top of the board with a longing expression on her face.

“I'll say this beforehand. If you are planning to tackle that mission, I am definitely not participating.”

“Agreed. That thing is pure madness.”

Tong Chai and Leorda hurriedly let their opinions known.

“But, but…. There is that additional bonus, though….”

“I also am against it. No matter how tasty the rewards look, that mission isn't worth it. Delphine, we should know when to differentiate between reckless bravado and actual bravery.”

Even Hao Win came out with a resounding no. All Delphine could do was to pout unhappily in the end.

“….Oh, well. Yes, it does seem completely impossible to clear, no matter how many times I look at it.”

Although she couldn't completely give up on it, she had to raise both of her hands in surrender.

After that, the six of them shared short but bittersweet goodbyes. They had gone through month-long life-or-death struggles together, so their bond had become pretty solid as a result.

In other words, Seol had pretty much met and exceeded the demand of Kim Hannah, the one about making important friends in this place.“I was able to earn a lot of points thanks to you.”

Seol shook hands with Tong Chai….

“I won't ever forget that you saved my life. If you run into trouble, come find me by the Sicilia.”

Leorda Salvatore told him bluntly.

“Well, we'll be seeing each other tomorrow one more time anyways.”

Odelette Delphine winked playfully at him….

“Love is an emotion, my man. Don't forget that.”

….And he bumped fists with Hao Win.

“And even now, no one asked me what my name was….”

The nameless(?) Priest carried a lonely smile as he left.

Now left alone, Seol shifted his gaze back to the noticeboard.

He looked at the 'Impossible' mission one more time.

Not only was the reward on offer an enormous tally of 172,800 points, there was also an additional reward as well, just as Delphine said.

'The VIP store….'

Although his greed was acting up again, Seol still shook his head in resignation. He heard that a mid-sized army made up of Level 4 Earthlings and above could just barely clear this mission, so there was no chance in hell that he could clear it by himself.

Seol immediately gave up and turned around to leave.

The Neutral Zone would close on tomorrow; perhaps because there were so many things to get ready, his room was in a bit of noisy chaos.

'Organize everything in the bag first, take with me what I can, return the smartphone before I leave, and spend all the points beside 1000….'

Thinking about his points tally, Seol became rather pleased with himself. His teammates invested most of theirs on better equipment and abilities, but he had not spent a single dime and continued to hoard them. All thanks to that, his current tally was the highest it's ever been.

However, they'd all become worthless by this time tomorrow, so he had to spend them today.

While organizing the contents of his bag, Seol continued to suppress the feeling of regret bubbling in his heart. He knew that mission was truly hopeless, yet the image of that parchment still danced in front of his eyes.

If he successfully cleared that mission, then he'd be able to buy that one item that was seemingly forever out of his reach.

Seol did almost everything in his willpower to shake off that distracting thought.

“Three spell balls, the quill pen of flowing consciousness….”

Plop.

And as he was absorbed in organizing the contents of the bag, something fell from it and issued a soft rustle.